Secretary Bird

[Stu Bowie]

This is a first for me. I was driving through the nature reserve close to my house last sunday morning when I spotted this secretary bird walking through the grasslands. This is their natural enviroment looking for snakes, their diet. He was quite far away, and I followed him driving slowly on the road parallel to him. This was the closest and most open capture I managed. As this is their natural surroundings, I have left the grasses untouched.

1D Mark IV
100-400 @ 400mm
1/2000
F/7.1
ISO 500

Manual exposure
Hand held from the car.

[Don Lacy]

Lovely light Stuart and since the head and eye is clear the image works for me with the habitat.

[dankearl]

Congrats on the capture, Stuart, a very interesting bird and the habitat shot is perfect.

[David Salem]

Nice capture. One of the neatest specialty raptors. Even though there are some grass blades on the body, it works fine IMO. Head is sharp and the light is perfect. Nice habitat shot and congrats on a first.

[Satish Ranadive]

Stuart Sir:
Extremely beautiful shot of handsome Secretary bird in it's habitat.Love the walking pose,lights and surroundings.

Regards,
Satish.

[Chris Martinez]

This bird exudes confidence and elegance.

I kinda wish the (termite?) mound wasn't in the scene.

[gail bisson]

I love the light and the colors in this one.
Fun walking pose and excellent HA.
I don't mind any of the grasses except the dark blade in front of the bird.
I would consider dodging that a bit.
Great capture,
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

A great, striding pose, light, strong environmental sense. I appreciate Gail's point about the one dark strand just in front of the breast.

Now if he had just jumped up on top of that termite mound to survey his territory


Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Cool! Great walking stride, and I love the grassy habitat. I too would remove the blade Gail talks about , and possibly burn or remove the thicker OOF on the primaries. This would not reduce the fact this is their habitat. Way to go following the subject and waiting for the opportune time to photograph it!

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for all the feedback guys and Gail. Here is a quick 5 min job with your suggestions.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, good repost!

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Awesome shot Stu, like the repost as well. Grassy habitat work so nicely. Love the head angle .

[Jonathan Ashton]

Love it - either version works for me I am ambivalent about the darker grasses, the sharp focus on the head holds my attention.

[Karl Egressy]

Great looking bird, nice walking pose. Excellent picture, love the environment.
The repost looks even better Stuart.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Staurt! I like the walking pose, habitat, colours, HA and composition. Repost makes it even better.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot Stuart.
Love the walking pose, great light, sharp, and excellent comp showing it's habitat.
Repost looks much better.
Well done.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all for the feedback and comments. Always appreciated.